Post by t***@lost.lostYes, I agree that the Asians do favor strong punishments for those who
have brought shame to themselves or their families. Knowing that, the
scene still doesn't sit right with me. I would have expected Jae to use a
less public method of suicide than jumping off the side of his own hotel.
That type of behavior brings even more shame to his family. He could have
shot himself, hung himself, cut his wrists, any number of more private
forms of suicide.
I really like the ambiguity of the scene exactly as shown. We're
*supposed* to wonder. But if I had to analyze it, I agree that Jae Lee
would not have committed suicide in this manner. I don't think he
would have jumped over the front of the hotel, where people were going
in and out, because he would have put other lives in jeopardy. I also
think he would have spent more time preparing his manner of death, and
maybe writing a note to his parents. It was all very, very quick. On
top of that, he had attended college in America, and seemed to have a
westernized, contemporary attitude about his life. If he was willing
to run off to America with the married daughter of a powerful Korean
businessman, with whom his family had dealings, I doubt he would have
committed suicide out of shame. He was eager enough to date Sun as a
pretense to get his parents off his back, and he had no problem with
giving her secret English lessons either.
Now here comes the mythology part, so feel free to run away screaming.
:)
I see Jae Lee as a combination of Anchises and Adonis, two lovers of
Aphrodite (aka Sun). Here's a little about each of them:
"Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes and Dionysus are the gods who loved
Aphrodite. But she was also loved by mortal men. One of them was
Anchises, king of Dardania, a region near the city of Troy. It is said
that Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt for having told, over wine,
about his affair with Aphrodite, or that he committed suicide for
unknown reasons. But it is also said that he died in exile."
( homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Aphrodite.html )
Zeus had arranged for Aphrodite to fall in love with Anchises to give
her a taste of her own medicine. It was a punishment. Sun's behavior
in "The Glass Ballerina," including the deception in her childhood, is
totally consistent with the personality of Aphrodite.
In the Adonis myth, Persephone and Aphrodite fight over him, with Zeus
settling the dispute by having Adonis spend 1/3 of the year with
Persephone (Jae's American lover?), 1/3 of the year with Aphrodite
(Sun), and 1/3 with whomever he pleased. Eventually, Adonis was killed
by a wild boar, and descended to the underworld. Aphrodite even
followed him there, but Persephone now had him for good. Aphrodite
founded a funeral cult in his honor:
"During the ancient Greek festival for Adonis, young women,
particularly those of questionable character, would plant disposable
Gardens of Adonis in baskets and pots of wheat, barley, lettuces,
fennel, and various kinds of flowers. The plants grew rapidily, but
also died quickly due to their shallow root systems, and were discarded
at the end of eight days, oftentimes with other images of the god. The
phrase has come to mean anything disposable or short-lived."
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_of_Adonis )
So it's interesting that Sun is the one to start a garden on the
island, which seems very important to her. (Sun to Jin: "I'd like to
stay for another 20 minutes or so... by myself. If that's all right
with you.") Jae Lee tells Sun that he doesn't want to share her any
longer, bringing in the theme of the mythological love triangle just
described. In fact, his suggestion that Sun date him as a cover for
his true love interest is another example of this triangle. Fans have
speculated about the identity of Jae Lee's American love interest. How
about Rachel Blake? She called herself Persephone when she hacked the
Hanso Foundation site.